Malindi Elmore is the fastest
Canadian female marathon runner of all-time. At 41 years
old, she broke Natasha Wodak’s record and finished
in 2:24:50, and set the record. The top Canadian female
Olympic marathon finisher this summer, Elmore says its
better to run an even pace than go out hard and try and
hang on.
“I would aim to negative
split,” says the mother of two, based in Kelowna,
BC. “It always gets hard at the end and if you can
get as far into the race as possible before starting to
hurt, then you can finish strong. For a marathon, I like
to go as evenly paced as possible, but really control
the first end knowing that there is a lot of distance
to cover and it really needs to feel cruise-y to start
off.”
Elmore says that for 5 and
10K races, she goes out super hard, knowing that the suffering
is going to occur. For the marathon, however, and even
the half, that strategy rarely works.
“I used to always go
all out, but too many painful fades and blow ups have
taught me some patience,” Elmore told iRun. “I
have become wiser in my old age.” Elmore
hasn’t only become wiser, she’s become faster,
too.
So now that the fall race
season is basically over it’s time to think about
hitting a spring PB.
What race will
you choose? What distance? And, importantly, what strategy
will you employ?
“The damage you can
do by going out 5sec/km too quick in the first half of
a long race can magnify itself like crazy at the end,
where minutes can disappear in no time,” says Evan
Dunfee, Olympic bronze medalist in the 50K speed walk
and an infamous running race closer. In Rio, Dunfee was
18 seconds back of Hirooki at 45K and closed him down
with 1km to go. In Doha, he was several minutes outside
of a medal with 5K to go, and he stormed home. In Tokyo,
he was 22 seconds out of a medal with 1K to go—and
he brought it home. He says that closing hard, if nothing
else, is more exciting, and makes you feel better, than
simply fading out.
“Race strategy depends on your readiness for that
specific race, as well as what the cost of blowing up
is (which gets bigger as the distance gets longer),”
Dunfee says. “If you are super fit and have a really
good idea of what you’re capable of, then go out
even and try to bring it home earlier, towards the end
of the race.” Dunfee, however, does present a warning:
“If you’re trying to fake your fitness over
the shorter stuff, go out hard and hold on, but if you’re
going long distance and want a strong finish—take
it out a bit easier and bring it home hard.”
The trick for scoring a PB,
says Reid Coolsaet, is running with a pacer. Coolsaet
told iRun that most of the world records have been scored
with even or negative splits. The problem is, what pace
should you try and hold? If you’re going for a PB,
obviously it’s a pace that you’ve never completed
before. “The best gauge for your pace is shorter
race results and then going to an online calculator,”
says Coolsaet, and here’s one we found. John Stanton,
the founder of the Running Room, thinks, based on my shorter
race finishing times, I can break 2:50. My PB is 2:59.
My half PB is 1:22, but it was almost 10 years ago. Is
John Stanton right? Is he insane? In September, I tried
to beat 2:59 and finished in 3:16. I was in the best shape
of my life. Coolsaet says finding your pace time is the
million dollar question. “If you’re doing
the marathon, long runs and long workouts will determine
your proper pace,” says the two-time Olympian and
run coach. “As the race gets longer, however, the
proper pace becomes harder to predict.”
At the risk of going on
for too long—but we’re talking about long
distance racing, so hear me out—I spoke with more
expert racers. Trevor Hofbauer, Olympian and all-around
rebel (he qualified for the Olympics without wearing a
watch), says: “Creating a plan that allows for a
negative split or equal split is the best approach. Of
course, you could dive deeper and take a look at other
variables (weather conditions, course route and elevation
change, race distance), which could offer other advice,
but overall, I think a structured plan with a negative
split or equal split is the best approach.” He
also added: “When I’ve PB’d, it’s
always been negative splits.”
Kathryn Drew, in July, ran a 100-mile race in 100-degree
heat in California. The 34-year-old, as tough as they
come, agreed also with the even split approach to racing.
“I think it’s best to try and run evenly throughout
your race and not go too hot out the gate,” she
says. “For the most part, I think people tend to
crash and burn when they do that. You can still have a
bold goal, but don’t get caught up in a quicker
pace at the beginning.”
Kat Drew has advice for runners
thinking about their races this spring. All of us have
big race plans. Here’s what Kat Drew does when chasing
her goals: “I stick to what I have trained for and
if I happen to have a ton of gas left at the end, then
I will lay down the hammer.”
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